ad ovo usque ad mala
by catalahari
Summary: "When Rhaegar rides past her and places the crown of roses in the girl's lap, Elia merely laughs. She should have known." This is the story of Elia Martell, from the events at Harrenhal to the bitter end. Vignettes.


When Rhaegar rides past her and places the crown of roses in the girl's lap, Elia merely laughs. She should have known. The crown is made of winter roses, befitting a maid from Winterfell, after all.

Opposite her, Oberyn is fuming red. Behind her, her handmaidens are whispering in outraged tones. Around her, everyone is talking in hushed voices, the shock still evident on their faces.

Elia gathers her skirts in her hand and moves away from the scene as swiftly as her legs would allow it.

* * *

Oberyn has to be bodily restrained before calming down. He offers to hunt Rhaegar down and kill him for her (either by spear and sword or two drops of poison, he says). Elia scoffs and waves it off. Let it go, she tells him, let it go because this won't turn out nicely for Rhaegar, and that is already enough.

But she does not expect it to turn out horribly, not just for him, but for everyone else.

* * *

Rhaegar does the next stupid thing — kidnapping Lyanna Stark, right from her home, in the dead of the night — and Elia's not sure what to think of this.

* * *

Her handmaidens ask her if she hates the wolf girl. She doesn't. She pities her. The poor child does not know what she has gotten herself into. She does not blame her for running away. Compare to the dull life in the North, the Prince of Dragonstone is much more exciting indeed.

* * *

Before she knows it, Rickard and Brandon Stark are dead and Robert Bratheon along with half the realm is in open rebellion. All because Lyanna Stark disappeared.

* * *

The realm bleeds, crimson and ruby upon the clattering of swords and spears clashing armours.

* * *

She is confined to the Red Keep, for her safety, they tell her, but she knows better than that. She knows that she is a hostage, keep to ensure Dorne's allegiance to the Iron Throne. The whole court look at her with pity in their thoughts and false sympathy in their eyes. She ignores them all. She is Elia Martell before anything else, and she is unbowed, unbent, unbroken.

* * *

Being confined does not necessarily mean not knowing anything about the outside world. Words travel faster than ravens nowadays, and through the maidservants, every kind of whispers reach her ears. Whispers of her missing husband and his enamoured. Whispers of what happened on the battefield. Whispers of pain, fear and deaths. More and more whispers fill her with more dread everyday, yet she listens, clinging onto the hope that she would find a way to escape this hellhole hidden somewhere between the words.

And then one day, the whispers got louder than usual as the details of Rhaegar's whereabouts surfaced. She thinks that it's quite ironic that he named his hiding place "the Tower of Joy". She's sure the wolf girl won't quite agree with that now, not with her father and brother dead, and her other brother and her betrothed riding off to war.

She chooses not to comment on the fact that the said tower is located in Dorne, which makes the slight tenfold more insulting than it already is.

* * *

One thing happens after another, and the next thing she knows, Rhaegar is dead. Her uncle is dead. Hands after Hands are dead. Innocent people are dead. Fire and blood decorate from the throne room to the tallest hills and suddenly Elia is very afraid for her life.

* * *

The day Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys are spirited away to Dragonstone, she and her children have to stay behind. Aerys wouldn't relent, no matter how hard she pleaded. She cries as they leave for the docks. She is all alone with her children now. Her husband is dead. Her uncle is dead. The Kingsguard are gone. Her brothers are away. There is no one within her reach that can help her now.

* * *

Mother's instincts work better in times of war, it would seem.

She places Rhaenys in her room and tells her to lock the door, just in case the monsters come. Rhaenys nods and does as she says. Her little girl looks so scared, and she does not know what to do to chase this fear away.

Her daughter clings onto her when she hugs her, and Elia thinks that she knows this may be the last time they get to embrace each other.

They stay silent in each other's arms for the whole night.

* * *

The monsters come, and a little door is just another flimsy obstacle between them and what they want.

She hears Rhaenys's scream — high-pitched and utterly terrified — before the doors of her own room opens. A mountain for a man strides in, and she knows, this is the beginning of the end.

* * *

They say that the moment before one dies, they see the world flash before their eyes.

Elia can see Sunspear and Dorne. She can see the Water Gardens with the children in it. She can see Doran's sweet smile, Oberyn's cocky smirk and her childhood friends's joyous giggles. She can see Uncle Lewyn ruffle her hair and Father twirl her around on the dance floor. She can see Mother braiding her hair and gently instruct her on how to be a proper lady. She can see her happiest moments flashing through all at once. And then, Mother and Father are standing in front of her with their arms extended. Elia takes a deep breath and reaches out for them.

When flash meet steel, Elia does not feel anything. She is free. She is finally _free_.

* * *

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